Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Good News Sec 66A of IT Act struck down

Sec 66A of IT Act struck down !!

In a landmark judgement upholding freedom of expression, the Supreme Court today struck down a provision in the cyber law which provides power to arrest a person for posting allegedly "offensive" content on websites.

Terming liberty of thought and expression as "cardinal", a bench of justices J Chelameswar and R F Nariman said, "The public"s right to know is directly affected by section 66A of the Information Technology Act."

Justice Nariman, who pronounced the verdict in a packed court room, also said that the provision "clearly affects" the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression enshrined under the Constitution.

Elaborating the grounds for holding the provision as "unconstitutional", it said terms like "annoying", "inconvenient" and "grossly offensive", used in the provision are vague as it is difficult for the law enforcement agency and the offender to know the ingredients of the offence.

The bench also referred to two judgements of separate UK courts which reached different conclusions as to whether the material in question was offensive or grossly offensive.

"When judicially trained minds can reach on different conclusions" while going through the same content, then how is it possible for law enforcement agency and others to decide as to what is offensive and what is grossly offensive, the bench said, adding, "What may be offensive to a person may not be offensive to the other".

The bench also rejected the assurance given by NDA government during the hearing that certain procedures may be laid down to ensure that the law in question is not abused.

￭ More on India Page The public"s right to know is directly affected by section 66A of the Information Technology Act."

The provision "clearly affects" the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression enshrined under the Constitution

The terms like "annoying", "inconvenient" and "grossly offensive", used in the provision are vague as it is difficult for the law enforcement agency and the offender to know the ingredients of the offence.

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